Robots do not get tired of Christmas shopping, they just need a recharge.
A £15,000 human-sized robot that dances, poaches eggs and does vacuuming was unveiled to crowds of UK shoppers, billed as the ultimate Christmas gift, though it won’t be available until 2026.
Named Optimus after the friendly robot in the Transformers films, the machine is being built by Elon Musk’s Tesla. It measures 5ft 8in, weighs 57kg and will initially be programmed for light manufacturing duties and assembly tasks in factories.
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The company says it will eventually go on sale to the public as a humanoid helper for domestic chores and as a companion.
The robot drew hundreds of curious onlookers to Tesla’s store in west London on Saturday after being flown from California to hand out Christmas tree baubles to promote its limited production next year.
More than 1,000 robot fans queued in Westfield shopping centre for a chance of a selfie and a carton of popcorn served by the robot.
Early versions of the robot are already working at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, where they lift tools and equipment and carry them between workstations.
“Optimus will sell for about $20,000 [£15,000] once we ramp up supply,” Cameron Wood, a spokesman, said. The robot is designed to do “everything that humans don’t want to do”, including tasks that are “dangerous, repetitive and boring”, he added.
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Musk said the robot “has the potential to be more significant than [Tesla’s] vehicle business over time”.
Plans to put the robot into production as early as 2023 have slipped. Musk identified three main challenges in moving to mass production: creating a robot hand as dextrous as a human hand, developing an AI brain capable of understanding the real world and establishing a supply chain.
The Generation 2 version of the robot uses the same AI system Tesla has developed for the advanced driver-assistance system used in its cars.
